Senior Citizens Higher Education Program

Senior citizens may take courses without paying tuition or mandatory fees, under certain conditions.

Qualifications

Under the program, a senior citizen is classified as any person who turns 60 years old before the beginning of the semester in which they claim entitlement. To qualify for the tuition waiver, the senior citizen must have had legal domicile in Virginia for at least one year.

Senior citizens may take tuition-free courses for credit or for audit, depending on income:

Courses for credit: Senior citizens with a taxable income of $23,850 or less for the year preceding enrollment may take courses for academic credit.

Courses for audit: Senior citizens whose taxable income exceeds $23,850 may only audit courses under the tuition-free policy.

The tuition-free policy does not apply to the cost of private music lessons, special course and materials fees (e.g., textbooks, laboratory and art fees) or program-specific tuition and fees. Additionally, a waiver may not be submitted for non-credit courses offered through third-party partnerships.

Course limitations

Senior citizen students can take up to three non-credit courses per semester. There are no restrictions on the number of courses qualified senior citizens may take for credit.

Additionally, there are no limits on the number of semesters senior citizens may enroll at VCU.

Registration

Senior citizens will be admitted to courses only on a space-available basis after all tuition-paying students have been accommodated, unless a credit-seeking senior citizen has completed 75 percent of their degree requirements. After meeting this requirement, senior citizens can enroll in courses at the same time as other tuition-paying students.

For audit

Overrides

Course prerequisites are sometimes waivable for senior citizen auditors, with department permission. Before the end of add/drop week, email or call the department to request a paper override form, and submit the form to the Student Services Center.